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(Supra)national Intermediary Systems Facilitating Inward Investments and Cross-border Business Development

(Push and Pull Strategies)

©2009, NBIA. All rights reserved.

Presented by:

Tom StrodtbeckDirector of International Programs

National Business Incubation AssociationLiverpool, United Kingdom

International HeadquartersAthens, Ohio USA

©2009, NBIA. All rights reserved.

Presentation in brief

• Pull strategies are (usually) inward investment strategies• Key metric: jobs

• Push strategies are (usually) business development strategies• Key metric: sales

• Facilitators of push and pull strategies do well to focus on:• Key business relationships in the new market• Education on business culture, and especially, sales and investment strategies

• Existing home-market business success a plus; regardless, proof-of-relevance iskey and should be addressed early in the process

©2009, NBIA. All rights reserved.

Pull Strategies

Strategies designed to facilitate inward investment and business development, key metrics include job creation, investment and tax revenue

Successful pull strategy facilitators leverage existing resources:

• Regional development agencies• National trade and investment authorities• NGOs

Pull strategies identify competitive advantages to facilitate deal flow:

• Market and capital access• Geographic, cultural, and sector advantages

©2009, NBIA. All rights reserved.

Pull Strategies

The US Market Access Center, San Jose, California

Market access• California, US.

Geographic advantage• Located near large urban areas:

San Francisco, LA, San DiegoSector dynamics

• TechnologyCapital access

• 50% of US venture dealsOther

• Cultural connections

©2009, NBIA. All rights reserved.

Pull Strategies

Cultural relationshipsCenter for Innovation, Grand Forks, ND, USA• Cultural connections

• Bruce Gjovig

Professional relationshipsMontpelier Agglomeration, Montpelier, France

• Professional network/MOUs: Tacoma, New York, China• Services available in French, English, Portuguese, Italian, German and Chinese

©2009, NBIA. All rights reserved.

Push Strategies

• Business development strategies designed to help local businesses expand into international markets: key metric is sales

• Pretty much EVERYONE wants to do this!

• Lots of government support:

• Export Development Canada (www.edc.ca)• United Kingdom Trade and Investment (www.ukti.gov.uk)• European Union Market Access Database (www.madb.europa.eu/)• US National Export Initiative (www.export.gov )

• Challenge: finding reciprocal partnerships

©2009, NBIA. All rights reserved.

Push Strategies

Technology Business Accelerators (TechBA), Mexico

• Founded in 2004 to support top tier innovative companies in bringing products into international markets

• Identified top innovation ecosystems:

• San Jose/Silicon Valley; ICT, Green tech• Detroit: Automotive• Austin, Texas: ICT, Telecom• Phoenix: Energy, Logistics• Vancouver: Multimedia• Montreal: Aerospace• Madrid: Aerospace, ICT

Each TechBA office identifiesRegional innovation partners. As an example, the IC2 Incubator in Austin; US Market Access Center in San Jose.

©2009, NBIA. All rights reserved.

Push Strategies

Initial Acceleration:

• Market readiness• Investment readiness• Education:

• Business culture• Sales culture• Investment culture

• Mentoring• Business matchmaking

Sell! Sell! Sell!

©2009, NBIA. All rights reserved.

Push Strategies

TechBA Lessons Learned:

• The international (?) challenge of connecting technologists to business talent• Businesses that are primarily grant funded are suspect of private equity deals; education needed• Mentoring and coaching just as important as educational programs• Business matchmaking a key service of TechBA offices• Special emphasis on sales: sales culture, sales process, and getting sales.

Results so far:

633 companies served$ 106 million (US) in transactions3500 jobs created

Source: www.techba.com

©2009, NBIA. All rights reserved.

One final thought…

People do business with people.

©2009, NBIA. All rights reserved.

Thank you!

Tom StrodtbeckDirector of International Programs

National Business Incubation AssociationLiverpool, United Kingdom

tstrodtbeck@nbia.org

Skype ID: tom_strodtbeck